


return ticket

by adarksweetness



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Feelings, M/M, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 07:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17075963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adarksweetness/pseuds/adarksweetness
Summary: Tony is alone when the apocalypse occurs. Steve finds his way back home.





	return ticket

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Impala_Chick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/gifts).



> Inspired by the prompt: Tony is alone when the actual apocalypse occurs. Scorched earth from sun flares, or zombies, or something equally terrible takes place and the Avengers aren't sure what to do. Steve finds his way back to the tower, or Tony finds his way to him, and he and Tony reconnect (sexually or non sexually) and figure out a plan.
> 
> Set in a post-infinity war imagining of the MCU. 
> 
> Happy holidays, Impala_Chick! I hope you like it :)

_“I know you’re scared.”_

Sam Wilson’s speech to the world at large is muffled over the speakers in the small hours of the morning. Tony knows it by heart by now, but he still likes to hear it spoken whenever he needs a bit of help to face the day.

_“We’ve seen cities go underwater, we’ve seen fires and earthquakes and everything in between. Our institutions around the world, the Alpha Flight team, and the Avengers are doing everything we can to deal with the threat. But we need you the most, to take care of each other here on the ground. We can’t do this without you.”_

This is the statement Captain America makes to the world, flanked by Captain Marvel and Rhodey in the War Machine suit. It’s a good statement, bold and brave, and Tony is as inspired as anyone. He’d always quietly envied Steve Rogers' ability to make people find the best in themselves, but Sam has a way of reaching the exhausted, at encouraging the most depleted, downtrodden person on Earth to find a grain more of their strength and keep going.  

Tony needs some of that, especially after the night he's had. Twenty-one days into their current catastrophe, Thor had paid him a visit to talk about it and the whole thing was far from encouraging. If anything, it felt horribly like deja vu.  

Surveillance footage, news reports, and social media told one part of the story: approximately three weeks ago, an entity crashed through the atmosphere and landed in the Canadian wilderness. Soon after, a garden grew over Calgary and Montana, and it wouldn't have been such a bad thing if only it didn't strangle half the population. Similar reports followed from around the world, wherein the Earth seemed to be returning to its prehistoric roots, leaving very few survivors. 

The colossal entity was responsible, of course, and it was only because of knowledge gained during the course of their previous fight with Thanos that they managed to identify it as a Celestial. Tony remembers being grimly glad that he’d insisted on chronicling everything as he floated through space all those years ago. Unfortunately, that knowledge wasn't enough. Nobody knew how to stop a Celestial.

“But I have witnessed such a judgment from the host before,” Thor had told him gravely. “A very long time ago. The Judge has decided that this planet is not viable, and has sent his Executioner, who will remake the Earth until all evil-doers are destroyed.”  

“Putting aside that some kind of space gods think they’re entitled to say whether we all live or die, the Earth is still kicking, right?” Tony said. “How did you beat the Executioner back when?”

“We nearly did not,” Thor replied. “Odin and all the Skyfathers were no match for him. Our mothers prevailed, but through great sacrifice, which is why I must find my mother in Valhalla and seek her counsel.”

So off he went. It hurt to lose one of the heavyweights, but it was the only lead they had so far, and the new roster of Avengers were holding their own just fine for now.

Tony got to keep Bruce, who was working with Strange and Reed Richards. Natasha and Clint were coordinating things in Eastern Europe. And last Tony heard, Steve was checking on his pal in Wakanda. Not that he looked very hard; Steve had taken his name off the Avengers roster, so locating him hadn't been a priority. Tony had 'retired' too, but things swung a bit off center after a space god showed up and he quickly found himself in charge of some parts of SHIELD that Nick and Maria had scraped together to deal with the crisis.

He didn’t want to be Sub-director Stark, but it let him work, gave him clearance to communicate with Alpha Flight, and a highly trained troupe of problem-solvers. Speaking of whom… 

“Sir,” the feed from the UN shrinks to be replaced by Hill’s face. “We have a man overboard.”

-.-

According to Maria, they nearly didn’t spot him in the water. The waves in the Pacific being what they were, the body blended in with the blue gray waters so it was only through sheer dumb luck that a scout on the fringes of the maintenance vessel spotted something weird and called it in. Radar identified the bogey as human, which was strange because the helicarrier and maintenance vessel staff were all accounted for.

“No other seafaring vessels or SOS signals in the area,” Hill says, joining Tony in a brisk pace down the corridor to the infirmary. “I want you to know we’re the only ones out here for miles.”

“Well, spit it out,” Tony says. “The suspense is killing me.”

They’re at the infirmary now. Tony sees medics buzzing around a bed, but nobody seems particularly panicked.

“The only explanation is that he swam here,” Hill gives him a wry look while she wastes a few seconds punching in her code to enter instead of using biometrics. “Maybe you can find out how.”

The sea of medics part when Tony enters, revealing the patient. Tony nearly stops in his tracks at the familiar sight of long blond hair and lean face behind a normally well-kept beard.

 Steve looks back at him with equal wonder. “Tony, hi.”

-.- 

The term emotional purgatory is probably not going to take off anytime soon, but it’s an apt description, Tony thinks, of what he’s feeling now as he listens to Steve describe the last 24 hours.

A troupe of Wakandan aid workers had given Steve a lift to northern Africa, where he took a Quinjet heading to the States. Once in New York, Bruce had helpfully briefed him on the locations of the rest of his original teammates, including Tony's new gig as SHIELD sub-director. And from there, it was easy enough to learn that the helicarrier would be making a scheduled maintenance stop near Hawaii. 

“Four hundred miles from the coast,” Tony interrupts then, drawing a sharp glance from the nice SHIELD interviewer. “I just, you know, I want that on the record. Four hundred miles out.”

“I hopped a supply helicopter heading this way,” Steve continues. His voice is soft, probably from exhaustion, so Tony bites back a comment about the shortfalls of hitchhiking to a vague location the middle of the ocean. “But we were hit by a freak storm and the ‘copter had to turn around. So...I just got off and made it the rest of the way.”

“He jumped out into the ocean and swam 150 miles,” Tony translates. “I want that on the record, too.”

He holds Steve’s gaze when it flicks up to him, daring him to say something about it. Steve just looks back, distinctly wary, yet unapologetic. In the end, it’s Hill who breaks this tension and asks the question that Tony can’t bring himself to do.

“Why go through all the trouble, Steve?”

“Something needs to be done about that thing out there,” Steve replies. “And I came to help.”

Tony scoffs. “I’m sorry, do we or do we not have a team on every continent? Are you seriously telling me Wilson or T’challa or Danvers couldn’t find you something to do?”

“Sam’s got the New Avengers at his back,” Steve replies. “And you know T’challa and Carol have their own troops, Tony, but you—” 

Steve falters a bit and Tony raises a pointed eyebrow. “I...?” he prods. It’s maybe a bit mean to do it in front of the SHIELD crew that Steve was pretending didn’t exist, but he needs to learn.

“Shouldn’t be alone, either,” Steve finishes. Tony can see his jaw set, his hands dig just a fraction more into the bed like he expects to be thrown out any minute. “I came because I wanted one of us to be at your side, Tony. We may not be the Avengers anymore, but it doesn’t mean we’re not a team.”

And that blitzes the annoyance clean out of Tony’s head.

He’s at a loss for words because there’s nothing to say in the face of Steve keeping his promises. To defeat Thanos, they’d made a peace on which, as time passed, a new relationship started to grow. Tony didn’t give it a name, content as he was to let it make a name for itself. But somehow, it feels like Steve had been holding up his end of a line that Tony had let go slack.

Beside Tony, Hill clears her throat. “The guys are almost done out there,” she reminds him, indicating the maintenance vessel. “We’ll let you know when it’s wheels up, Sub-director.”

 _You have until then to make a decision;_ the overtone hangs in the air as Hill signals the rest of the personnel to clear out. Tony doesn’t presume upon her opinion, but the way she smiles at Steve and says "It’s good to have you with us, Cap." is a pretty clear indication of where she stands on the matter.

When they’re alone, Tony takes the opportunity to give Steve another once over. His cheeks are already showing signs of better health and aside from hair that needs a good shampoo, Steve seems as physically fine as can be expected. He also looks mightily interested at the contents of his food tray, so Tony figures this is as good a time as any to give him some space to recover.

He’ll go back to his rooms; maybe make a pros and cons list of sending Steve back to the mainland on the maintenance boat, maybe make a pros and cons list of even starting that fight...

“Where are you going?”

Tony pauses with his hand on the door. “Just to my quarters.”

“Oh, can I join you?” Steve asks quickly. Tony can see his fingers curled around the edge of the tray table, as if he’s ready to throw it off and Tony suddenly, viscerally _cannot_ leave him here alone...

“Sure thing,” he agrees. “Come on.”

 

-.-

 

The director’s quarters on the helicarrier are pretty luxurious by the standard they have on these things. Still, two people are a tight fit because Tony’s arranged the space to suit himself and Steve has to adjust for his extra dimensions.

“I’ve got some spare uniforms in the closet,” Tony says when he catches Steve glancing at the shower. He still has salt dried around his jaw and temples; he must be sticky as hell.

“Thanks,” Steve rasps. He picks his way to the bathroom and immediately peels the infirmary gown off without bothering to close the door. Tony can hear him puttering around, gathering soap or whatever. It’s better there, somewhat, because Tony hasn’t filled the bathroom to capacity with his stuff. The shower stall is actually big enough for at least two people, provided those two people weren’t both supersized and didn’t mind cramped quarters.

Steve fiddles with the water controls for about ten seconds before heaving a sigh. He turns and doesn’t look very surprised to see Tony at the entrance, watching him in mild disbelief.

“I guess you updated the controls since we were last on one of these?”

“Shower on,” Tony deadpans back, and a spray of water immediately descends from the showerhead. “I start with 112 degrees and go from there.”

Steve wipes water from his eyes and slicks his hair back, but otherwise doesn’t move.

“I was scared,” he confesses, just loud enough for Tony to hear him over the shower. “I thought I was ok with the way things are between us, but when the Celestial landed and I realized I didn’t know where you were, I couldn’t think. About anything except for what happened last time an alien landed and we weren’t together.”

Tony swallows and clutches at his own hands to keep from fidgeting. Steve still stands there, water sluicing over him, every door open in obvious invitation. And damn if Tony doesn’t want to go to him.

 _Don’t be pathetic, we’re at war with a Celestial_ , he tries to reason with himself. Surely, there are more important things to be done. Yet all that could be done was already underway. There’s nothing that can be particularly improved with Tony’s personal attention, and, honestly…

Honestly, he’s missed Steve. For all of their natural tendencies to butt heads, things still feel better when they’re together. Sometimes, it feels like they show up in the strangest, most twisted parts of each other’s lives. Mostly, Tony feels like he’s twice as good as he ever was without Steve.  

Once that’s established, Tony works quickly, before he can rethink. He makes short work of his gun holster, belt, and the director’s uniform itself. He throws it into a pile with Steve’s stupid gown and steps into the shower. 

The space really is cramped, but the steam warms him immediately and the heat from Steve’s broad and wonderfully bare back takes care of the rest. He can feel Steve’s chest rise under his palm, and Tony presses his forehead into Steve’s back, letting the amalgam of water and soap pool in his hair.

“You’re such a basket case, Steve,” he says. “This is hardly our first extinction event and you have to go and be dramatic about it. After this is over, you bet we’re going to have a long talk.”

“You think it’ll be over?” Steve asks, and the waver in his voice only makes Tony tighten his hold.

“Reed and Bruce are cooking up something called a Null Generator,” Tony replies. “My billion-dollar contribution to the idea is to put a jetpack on it. Damn straight, this’ll be over.”

Steve exhales shakily, once, twice before turning in the tight circle of Tony’s arms and embracing him back. Tony can feel the muscles in his arms twitch as Steve tests and tempers his strength, but in the end, they’re pressed together and it feels like everything is in place.


End file.
